1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to an image forming apparatus including a carriage having a recording head to jet liquid droplet(s).
2. Description of the Background Art
An image forming apparatus used as a printer, facsimile machine, copier, or multi-functional device thereof may have a liquid jetting device including a recording head configured as, for example, a liquid jetting head for jetting liquid droplets of a recording liquid, (e.g., ink). Such image forming apparatuses jet liquid droplet(s) from nozzles of the liquid jetting head to form an image on a recording medium (hereinafter “sheet” or “sheets”).
Such image forming apparatuses can be categorized into two types. One type is a serial-type image forming apparatus, in which a recording head jets liquid droplet(s) while moving in a main scanning direction to form an image on a recording sheet. The other type is a line-type image forming apparatus, in which a line-type recording head extending in a width direction of a recording sheet jets liquid droplet(s) without moving the recording head to form an image.
In the above mentioned serial-type image forming apparatus, a carriage including a recording head may be connected to another unit, such as for example a control unit, by using a flexible harness, by which the recording head can be activated and driven by signal(s) generated by the control unit. The flexible harness having a given flexibility may also be called as a flat cable, a flexible flat cable, or a flexible board. With such a configuration, the flexible harness can be moved along a movement of the carriage while changing a shape of the flexible harness. Several image forming apparatuses using such a flexible harness have been proposed, such as Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-082381, 2007-176068, and 2004-351727.
In the serial-type image forming apparatus, the flexible harness needs to be moved corresponding to a movement of the carriage. Accordingly, some portion of the flexible harness, which is between the carriage and the control unit or the like, cannot be fixedly attached to a housing or the like of the image forming apparatus but must be free to move. Such unfixed or free portion of the flexible harness can be called a “free harness portion.” If the “free harness portion” of the flexible harness falls under its own weight, however, the flexible harness may interfere with an adjacent component or the like, such as a belt for moving the carriage in the main scanning direction.
Such interference of the flexible harness with an adjacent component can be prevented by providing a larger clearance therebetween. However, such a larger clearance may not be possible to provide because of increasing market demand for smaller, more compact image forming apparatuses.